Handling apparatus for electrical articles



May 5, 1959 A. L. HOUSE ET AL 2,885,076

HANDLING APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL ARTICLES Filed Aug. :50, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l arse/'73 A 7' TORNE May 5, 1959 A. L. HOUSE ET AL HANDLING APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL ARTICLES Filed Aug. 50, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS A L. HOUSE .1 J MONAHAN Arm NE) n wt END Elli! United States HANDLING APPARATUS FOR ELECTRICAL ARTICLES Application August 30, 1955, Serial No. 531,547 1 Claim. (Cl. 209--75) This invention relates to article handling apparatus and has for its object apparatus for receiving articles such as electrical switching devices, vacuum tubes, etc., as they are delivered singly from assembly machines, routing them to one or more test stations and then sorting them according to the results of the tests.

According to the general features of the invention, articles to be tested are delivered singly to the upper end of a downwardly inclined test fixture and are gravity fed to a test station where a mechanism makes electrical connections thereto for testing. Tested articles are released from the test station and are guided to sorting receptacles at the lower end of the fixture.

A preferred embodiment of the invention particularly adapted to receive Western Electric Company type 224 dry reed switches as they are discharged singly from multiple position assembly machine (of the type disclosed in co-pending patent application No. 505,172 of Messrs. R. F. Brewer and J. A. Hosford filed May 2, 1955) and for subjecting the switches to the tests performed by the test set disclosed in co-pending application No. 531,518 of Messrs. F. Kulick, J. W. McGrath and A. H. Spence, filed August 30, 1955, includes a conveyor for receiving the switches as they are completed by the assembly machine and delivers them (after the newly fused glass envelopes of the switches have had time to cool) to the test fixture. The test fixture is downwardly inclined to permit the switches to be gravity fed to a first test station where they are stopped, connected in a test circuit and subjected to a number of operational tests after which the switches are released and guided to either a reject receptacle or a second test station. In the second test station, the switches are connected in another test circuit and subjected to a high potential breakdown test, and when released, are guided to either a high potential reject receptacle or a receptacle for good units.

These and other features of the invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of apparatus incorporating the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the conveyor showing one of the receptacles in cross-section;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the test fixture portion of Fig. l

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the test fixture of Fig. 3 showing some of the parts diagrammatically, and

Fig. 5 is a view along the plane of line 5-5 of Fig. 4 showing one of the switch contacts contactor mechamsms.

Referring now to the drawing, attention is first directed to Fig. 1 wherein dry reed switches 7 are delivered singly from an assembly machine (not shown) through a tube 8 to receptacles 9 on an upwardly inclined conveyor 10. The dry reed switches 7 (Fig. 2), shown by way of. illustrating the invention, have a glass envelope 6 atcnt and a pair of magnetically operable contacts 5 with spaced contacts 4 extending through the glass envelope. A sprocket 11 for driving the conveyor is driven by a belt 12 at a speed determined by the indexing of the assembly machine so that successive receptacles 9 will be in position to receive the switches 7 as they are successively delivered from tube 8. Alternately, the sprocket 11 could be driven by a conventional gearing arrangement directly by the driver for the assembly machine. In the present embodiment the conveyor, having ninety receptacles 9, is moved one position (with respect to tube 8) approximately every 10 seconds which allows a cooling interval of 7 minutes for the newly fused switches from the time of discharge from the tube 8 to its delivery to the top of the test fixture 14. A retaining cover 15 on a stationary frame 18 for the conveyor and the test fixture prevents the switches 7 from falling out of the receptacles before they reach the test fixture.

Test fixture 14 is mounted at an angle of about 35 on frame 18 so that articles delivered to its upper end from the conveyor may be gravity fed down the fixture. In general, the test fixture includes an inclined main chamber 66 for supporting a first and second or an upper and a lower test station 19 and 20 respectively, a network of tracks 22 through 32 inclusively for receiving switches delivered to the top of the fixture and for guiding them through the test stations and a number of receptacles 54 through 58 inclusively at the lower end of the member 66 for receiving the tested articles. The first test station 19, in which the dry reed switches 7 are subjected to the operational tests, includes an actuating coil 51 for the switches, switch terminal contactor assembly 42 and a track blocking or stop member 39. The second test station 20 where the switches are subjected to a high potential test for testing the gas content of the switches includes a sleeve 59 for receiving the switches and a switch terminal contactor assembly 42 and a track stop member 39 similar to those of the first test station 19. The contactor assemblies 42 are supported on movable arms of double acting air cylinders 49 which are controlled by electromagnetically controlled or solenoid air valves 50. As seen in Fig. 5, the contactor assemblies 42 have a pair of opposed resilient conductive members 46 for making electrical connection with the spaced-apart contacts 4 of the switch, mounted on base members 47 at the ends of actuators of the air cylinders 49. The upper ends of members 46 are bent to form V-shaped receiving slots for engaging the contacts 4 of the switches when the air cylinders move the contactor assemblies 42 upwardly to connect a switch in the coil or the sleeve 59 into'the test circuits. The stop members 39 are positioned below the test stations and normally block or stop switches in the test stations within either the coil 51 or the sleeve 59. Solenoids 60 are provided for retracting the stop members from the test stations for releasing the switches from the stations when the contactor assemblies 42 are retracted.

A gate 33 at the input end of track 24 which guides the switches to test station 19 may be rotated counter-clockwise as seen in Fig. 3 to block the track 24 and deflect switches from the input A track 22 into a by-pass track 23 whenever switches jam or pile up in the input track 24. A coin type switch 38 is located in the track 24 for triggering a test set 52 whenever a switch passes through. This test set which is not a part of the present invention may be of the type disclosed in the aforementioned application.

At the output or lower end of test station 19, switches enter track 25 and may be guided into either a reject A track 27 or the input B track 26 for test station 20, the routing of the switch being controlled by a gate 34 operated by a solenoid 63. Likewise, a gate 35 at the lower end of track 30 below test .station 20 deflects switches therefrom into either the test good track 31 or the reject B track 32. Another gate 36, in the lower portion of reject A track 27 and controlled by a solenoid 65, is provided for deflecting rejected switches into a selective reject track 29. The lower end of the reject A track below gate 36 is designated numeral 28. Reject A track 28, selective reject" track 29, test good track 31 and reject B track 32 are terminated with receptacles 55, 56, 57 and 58 respectively at the lower end of the fixture adjacent receptacle 54 for the bypass track 23.

In operation, switches are fed into the receptacles 9 of the conveyor 10 and then transported singly to the input A" track 22 of the test fixture. A switch passing down the input track 24 triggers the test set 52 by clos ing the switch 38 and then is stopped in the first test station 19 by the stop or blocking member 39. Solenoid air valve 50 is then operated to raise the contactor assembly 42 to engage contacts of the dry reed switch which is held within the coil 51. The test set then subjects the switch to a succession of operational tests by controlling the strength of the field of coil 51. In the event that the switch fails any of the operational tests, gate 34 will be operated by solenoid 63 to block input B track 26, as shown, so that when solenoids 60 and 50 are operated to release the switch from the station by the retraction of stop 39 and contactor assembly 42, the tested switch will be deflected into reject A track 27. If the switch passes the tests, gate 34 is operated to block the reject A track 27 and the switches will be deflected into the input B track 26 for the second test station 20 where they will be similarly connected into a high potential breakdown test circuit of the test set 52. In test station 20 an actuating coil such as 51 is not required consequently a mechanical retainer, sleeve 59, is utilized to prevent members 46 from knocking the switches out of the test station when the contactor assembly 42 is moved to engage the contacts thereof.

When the switch is released from the first test station 19, another switch is normally dropped from the conveyor into the input track 22 so that tests may be performed on switches in both test stations simultaneously. Tested switches from the lower test station 20 are released therefrom and deflected into either the test good track 31 or the reject B track 32 by operating solenoid 64. Specific types of operational rejects from the reject A track 27 may be segregated by operating solenoid 65 which controls gate 36. The switches then will 4 be routed through tracks 28, 29, 31 and 32 to their respective receptacles 55, 56, 57 and 58.

It is to be understood that the above described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

Apparatus for two stage testing and sorting of elongated electrical articles having spaced contacts extending longitudinally from opposite ends thereof, comprising an inclined main support member, an upper and a lower test station on the support member, each having movable means for stopping articles therein and a pair of bi-iurcated contactors for engaging the spaced contacts of the articles and aligning them in the stations, a support for each pair of contactors, means for moving each of the supports between a normally retracted position and a test position wherein the contacts of articles in the test stations are jammed between the bi-furcated contactors to connect the articles in test circuits, means for holding the articles in the test stations when the contactors are moved into engagement therewith, a plurality of receiving means for the articles at the lower end of the support member, a conveyor for delivering articles singly and at regularly timed intervals to the upper end of the support member, guide means for receiving articles delivered to the upper end of the support member for gravity feeding them to the upper test station, a by-pass guide means on the support member for gravity feeding articles past the test stations directly to one of the receiving means at the lower end of the support member, means for selectively routing articles delivered to the upper end of the support member into the by-pass guide means in the event articles pile up thereon, means below the upper station for selectively routing articles from said upper station to the lower station or to another of the receiving means and means below the lower station for selectively routing articles from the lower station to still another of the receiving means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,254,690 Hazard Ian. 29, 1918 2,571,643 Youhouse Oct. 16, 1951 2,609,927 Whelchel Sept. 9, 1952 2,628,572 Le Golf Feb. 17, 1953 2,668,618 Seelhotf Feb. 9, 1954 

